He has now been appointed as a member of the prime minister鈥檚 new Apprenticeship Delivery Board (ADB), helping to sell the concept of apprenticeships to employers.
While his day job is chairman of the family construction business, Wates Group, James Wates is also, among other things, chairman of the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Trust, chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), chairman of the Prince鈥檚 Trust Built Environment Leadership Group and co-chairman of Build UK. He is also a non-executive director of property developer Argent Services.
He is vice chairman of the of Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 Foundation for Disabled People, a governor of the Emmanuel School, a governor of the University of Westminster and a patron of the Wates Family Enterprise Trust.
The new Apprenticeship Delivery Board is expected to champion the use of apprenticeships in industry and help the government achieve its targets.
Chaired by the prime minister鈥檚 apprenticeship advisor Nadhim Zahawi MP and businessman David Meller, the Apprenticeship Delivery Board includes:
- David Abraham, chief executive of Channel 4
- Mike Thompson, head of apprenticeships at Barclays
- Alderman Andrew Parmley, City of London
- Rami Ranger, chairman of Sun Mark Ltd
- Melanie Hayes, resourcing & development director at Compass Group
- Simon Blagden, non-executive chairman at Fujitsu
- James Wates, chairman, Wates Group.
James Wates commented: 鈥淚 am delighted to be offered the opportunity to join this influential board, whose mission is to support the government鈥檚 target to create three million new apprenticeship starts by 2020. This is a fantastic recognition of the need to support the development and training of our future talent. This is a subject and challenge which is close to my heart and something which I have championed in my other board roles."
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